Happy Valentine's Day. We woke to a wet Tuesday morning, the kids headed to school and Lyndon to work as per usual. By lunch time though the wind and rain was coming in sideways and the flood water was rising. The kids were very excited as Lyndon had to pick them up at lunch time due to a possible cyclone hitting in the arvo. With everyone home safe and sound including our visitors Jen (O'DD) and her kids who live in a low lying area near the water front. Also this was Jen's first cyclone being from Ireland and all.
The poor compounds coconut trees coped a flogging but no where near as much as the banana trees.
This is the first time in two years we have ever seen the water pool in our yard. Jasmine was proving to be a very slow moving and wet cyclone.
Even the veggie patch became an undersea garden.
Tonga lost power not long after lunch but luckily we have a generator which kept the kids entertained and fed.
Late afternoon and if it was even possible the heavens opened even more.
Under the house was a tad wet but we had put most of the gear inside and covered Jodie's pool table.
Lyndon was doing laps around the compound to ensure everything was secure and out of the rising flood water. This is the main entrance into the common area.
Looking back across our common area. The water from the foreground is the high tide from the main road.
This is the back river into Dave and Emele's place (DC1). About an hour later the water was through the entire bottom level of the house. Lyndon and Dave were kept busy putting the electrical gear up on bricks. Ben and Belinda (DC2) also lost under their house due to the high flowing water level.
Lyndon came home to the three little leprechauns doing a jig on the tramp. The kids wanted so badly to run around in the rain and weather. The NFM (No Fun Mum) put a stop to that!
Jodie looking down our back road/river. With a break in the weather Jen decided to make a run for her house to see if it had gone under.
Jen took off first and took a wrong turn into a flooded street. She only made it another few feet when the car was flooded and Lyndon had to tow them out.
We left Jen's car at her place and they returned with us as they had no power. On our way back home along the water front the winds picked up again as you can see from the sideways rain across the windscreen.
A young Tongan was getting a lift (why was he even out?) in the back of this truck. You could see he had his shirt wrapped around his head for some protection but he was having his skin stripped off his back by the wind and rain. As much as he tried to hide from the weather there ain't many places to hide in the back of a flat bed truck.
The morning after Dylan was first up at 6am and had cleaned all the fallen trees out of our yard. Now he was waiting for Dad to help him machete the banana trees. It's a favourite with both Em and Dyl - they love to chop things down with a 2ft knife, what kid wouldn't?.
The view from the back veranda half way through the clean up.
The clean up crew. It took a full day to clean up the mess in the compound but thankfully we had helpers.
Bubbles one of our chooks checking the damage. "Where have my feathers gone???" The chooks wouldn't hide from the weather and they all look a little less fluffy after a blow dry from TC Jasmine.
The cyclone finished off the deck at our beloved Pangi Island. The previous week during another very strong blow (TC Cyril) a local fishing boat broke it's mooring and made a direct hit on the wharf. The sun deck used to go all the way from the water line up to the green mesh walls.
This is another new attraction to the coast line, two local fishing boats up on the reef. The one on it's side is a friends fishing trawler. They are straight out in front of the NZ high commission residence. Will they stay - only time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment